Manoj-Babli honour killing case

The Manoj–Babli honour killing case was the honour killing of Indian newlyweds Manoj Banwala and Babli in June 2007 and the successive court case which historically convicted defendants for an honour killing. The individuals involved in the murder included relatives of Babli (Grandfather Gangaraj who is said to have been a Khap leader, Brother, Maternal and Paternal uncle and two cousins). Relatives of Manoj, especially his mother, defended the relationship.

The killing was ordered by a khap panchayat (khap),a religious caste-based council among Jats, in their Karora village in Kaithal district, Haryana.

The khap passed a decree prohibiting marriage against societal norms. Such caste-based councils are common in the inner regions of several Indian states, including Haryana, Punjab, western Uttar Pradesh, parts of Rajasthan and Bihar, and have been operating with government approval for years. In any event, the state government expressed no concern about the ruling of the khap panchayat.

The Khap panchayat's ruling was based on the assumption that Manoj and Babli belonged to the Banwala gotra, a Jat community, and were therefore considered to be siblings despite not being directly related and any union between them would be invalid and incestuous. Nevertheless, the couple went ahead with their marriage, following which they were abducted and killed by Babli's relatives.

In March 2010 a Karnal district court sentenced the five perpetrators to be executed, the first time an Indian court had done so in an honour killing case. The khap head who ordered but did not take part in the killings received a life sentence, and the driver involved in the abduction a seven-year prison term. According to Home Minister P. Chidambaram, the UPA-led central government was to propose an amendment to the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in response to the deaths of Manoj and Babli, making honour killings a "distinct offense".

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